A story of the lost princess
by Dae the Shadow
Summary: Summary: This is a story, based on my original characters, but related to the king Thranduil’s family. No romance.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: This is a story, based on my original characters, but related to the king Thranduil's family. No romance.

Disclaimer: I will never try to claim any of the professor's works or his characters.

A story of a lost princess

Prologue:

Two months in a slavery became the worst nightmare for me. I remember crying for days after being taken, wishing nothing but death. But I remembered who I truly am. A daughter of a noble king famous for his stubbornness. I will not fall, will not surrender to darkness. I will live through it and fight for my future.

Chapter 1. Before the storm

If I were human, I'd be sixteen. The only girl in the family, the last child of the Thranduil, king of Northern Mirkwood. My childhood was far from what the normal girl should have. Surrounded by tree brothers I was more interested in the swords and bows, then crafts that were claimed to be female. If I was given a chance, I would became a warrior. But unfortunately my father was as hard as a stone or a peace of ice, that is, when it was about my future. He loved me with all his heart and I had never doubted it. But I always felt as if I was a rare flower in the royal garden, the one that is being admired by everyone, but is alone.

My eldest brother Saelon was a crown prince. He was always involved in politics, different meetings and councils. Whatever free time he had he spent with his family. I rarely spoke to him as a sister would to brother. We were not close enough for that. Suldir was king's second son and leaded our troops, commanding the army and patrol groups. He was rarely seen in the palace, spending most of his time out in the woods, protecting the realm. My third brother Legolas was probably the closest to me. He was also trained as a warrior and became rather famous for his archery. Being the youngest son and still quiet young, he had more spare time to keep me company.

We had a little secret. The one that had probably saved my life... Legolas was teaching me how to use weapons. He was a good teacher and I was eager to learn that craft. We practiced whenever an opportunity showed itself and no one in the whole palace knew about it.

With the growing intensity of a shadow that was covering our woods, father was sending me to the fair woods of Lorien more often. I suffered greatly. Dark or not, Mirkwood was still my home. I felt lost and lonely being cut from it. And what is more, I felt useless. I could do nothing but watch as my elder brother spent sleepless nights working hard with our father to find a way of survival for our people and two others were risking their lives again and again, slaying dark forces that were plaguing our wood.

I remember that day well, for my mind was playing it's events over and over again during my restless sleep. Father called me to his room. He was exhausted, his face pale and drawn. He jested for me to sit.

"Ithildae, I know you do not want to leave." He started and I already knew what would come next. "But the danger is growing. Orcs, spiders and now the slave traders... I want to be sure that at least one of my children is safe."

I wanted to protest, feeling bitter tears threatening to fall down my face. But I did not. I never did. Each time I was looking in the sad pain-filled eyes of my father, I could read nothing but love. Love and regret.

"When you want me to live?"

"Tomorrow. And I want you to bring the message to Lord and Lady of Lorien."

I bowed slightly and left the room. It took me few minutes to run toward my room and lock the door. Valar knew I didn't want to leave. With ??? still in the forest, sending no news for over a month. And with Legolas on a quest with a ranger, sent who-knows-where by Gandalf. But what choice did I have?

So I collected my things, too familiar with the procedure to even concentrate on it. My thoughts however were wandering elsewhere, seeking some way out of a twisted maze of fate I have been lost into.

"Tomorrow" arrived quicker then I would wish it. I mounted my horse, surrounded by a circle of guards and few other female elves. Despite my status I preferred to travel dressed in a common outfit, more suitable for a hunter then a princess. That was my little victory in a never ending battle against traditions. And that would prove to be vital for me.

I waved my goodbye to father trying to look happier then I felt. But some sudden dreadful feeling inside my heart was telling me, that this journey would end up badly. I wasn't blessed (or coursed) with the gift of foreseeing and so I said nothing, thinking it to be the result of my gloomy mood. We departed from the palace, quickly heading into west toward Lorien.

I was enjoying my time among the trees. Among king's children I was the one to inherited our mother's appearance and a large part of her sylvan blood. That caused living in the stone walls of the palace to be even harder for me. But what shocked me during that journey, was silence. All consuming, sinister silence that pierced my heart. The trees were not talking, the animals were hidden. The wood was resembling a graveyard, but it's inhabitances were not yet dead. I remember thinking if we were really doomed. Doomed to see no light and feel no life...

And that was the most appropriate atmosphere for a disaster to strike.

…TBC

Note: This one is short and too lyrical even for my liking. It would contain more actions further. It's just that I have an exam tomorrow and could not written more.


	2. Chapter 2

2. An attack in the woods

The feeling of danger seemed to grow with each step. I was looking around nervously, trying to locate the source of danger or at list the direction which it was coming from. Once or twice I tried to speak to trees, but it was fruitless. The forest around us was silent, its heart closed. I noticed that the warriors around me were also tensed, scanning the surrounding area as if they expected an attack in any minute.

I reached down to my saddle bag, my hand moving to a long knife, the only weapon I could take with me without anyone notice. I hated to feel helpless and if my fears come true, I would do my best not to shame my family.

We were ridding in complete silence, the gloomy mood of the forest pressing on our hearts. It was such a choking feeling to see the soul of woods slowly dying in the flames of pure evil. This forest was my home and should he be destroyed, so would be the part of me.

Suddenly a sharp hissing sound cut the air and one of the warriors in the front of our group fell from his horse, dead. I saw many injured or dying soldiers while helping in the healing wing of the palace, but never had I witnessed a death on the battlefield. I heard the maiden ridding to the left starting to cry, her eyes wide in terror. Few more soldiers fell dead, others were shooting arrows without stop. But all too soon our attackers rushed from the wood, wielding swords and axes. I took out my knife, not wanting to be absolutely weaponless. Even I could see that we stood no chances against so many. Already most of the warriors were injured badly.

Another soldier was killed. I could stand back no longer. Jumping down from my stallion I grabbed one of the swords that was laying abandoned by it's dead master. Calling all my skills I joined the fight ignoring the warriors who were shouting, urging me to run. I knew I would be either caught or dead before I can make two steps. If we were doomed to die here, I wouldn't go away without a fight. I had no experience of fighting in a real battle, but my instincts helped and Legolas proved to be a good teacher.

A scream pierced the air and I turned around in time to see one of the maidens falling to the ground with a loop of rope around her neck. She was quickly dragged away from the battle and bound securely. I resumed fighting watching in despair that only three more warriors were on their feet and one of them has a fatal wound. Another maiden was captured. I lost count of our enemies. I was not thinking over my actions any more, my instincts gained the full control. I knew not how long the fight was going on. It seemed like ages, but my rational part was telling that we were attacked no more then fifteen minutes ago.

Suddenly I felt a flesh of pain. Instinctively I lifted my hand and grabbed the rope that was choking me. Someone pulled on the rope and I stumbled, the loop around my throat tightening. My vision grew darker from the lack of oxygen and I was close to panic. I was hardly aware of the hands that were grabbing for me, trying to subdue. I remember thrashing like a mad, kicking out even if I could see nothing. The rope was choking me, my lungs were burning, my heart was beating wildly. But my fight was doomed. I was at the break of unconsciousness, kept on feet only by my will. My limbs grew heavier with each passing second and I could not tell what was going on around me. My world narrowed to one feeling - agonizing, suffocating pain. And than I blacked out.

... TBC

Note: It's rather short. For that I'm sorry. I hope there weren't too many mistakes in this one.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: I'm sorry for the delay. I had some hard time at university. I'll try to update my other stories soon.

3. Captivity

My thoughts were massed up while my mind was still floating somewhere between unconsciousness and awareness. I had to fight all the dizziness and nausea in order to gain control over my mind and body. Finally started to wake up, slowly returning to the land of living and, unfortunately, to the land of pain. Hot agony was spreading from my neck, my throat was dry and seemed to be on fire. I tried to swallow, but it didn't help even a bit.

Why was I in such a miserable state? My mind was working hard on dispelling the thick mist that covered my brain. And bits by bits all that had happened came to me. I tried to control growing panic and started to inspect myself for other injuries.

My chest was aching after the cruel ordeal of being choked. My head was pounding, adding discomfort to the situation. After short awhile I became aware of many small cuts and bruises that covered my body. It must have been the results of the fight.

My hand instinctively tried to reach my neck in a desperate attempt to sooth the pain, but failed. I was banded tightly and obviously tied to something solid, probably to the tree trunk. Shocked by this resent discovery, I forced my eyes to open even though I knew that it would bring my nausea to a new level. My vision was slightly blurred for the first few minutes, everything coming in and out of focus. I groaned lightly feeling as if my had was being torn into small pieces. But finally I was able to see clearly once more.

We still were in the forest and by the look of it, in one of it's darkest parts. The trees were high, growing close to each other. Their branches were tangled creating mysterious and grotesque figures. And the shadow that occupied every inch between them was thick, almost alive. I shuddered taking my gaze away. It was noon judging by the amount of sunlight that somehow was able to reach the forest floor. I slowly turned my head, looking around. My movements were careful both not to increase my headache and not to attract attention of whoever had captured me.

I indeed was tied to the tree. This tree was corrupted by darkness, it's heart closed for anyone. The feeling of touching it's lightness form was thickening, it's weight pressing on my heart. It was hard to stand the live of Arda being slowly swallowed by evil. Turning my head further to the sight I noticed two more figures tied in the same manner as I was. I recognized them as warriors from our group, although I didn't know them close. They were still unconscious and were obviously hurt more then I was. Suddenly I remembered about two maidens that were captured some minutes before me. I wondered what had happen to them for there were no signs of them.

Right in front of me was our captors' camp. Now that I could watch them closely I had no doubt they were humans. It was hard to tell which race did they belong to and I strongly suspected they were multicultural. Most of them were equally unshaven, tanned and hardened with the life in the wild. They wore plane clothes of hunters and if not for their aggression toward us, I'd think them to be mere rangers. The camp was large. Even being shielded from the real strategy by my family, I was clever enough to figure out that such a big party of warriors did not venture to go this deep into the elven territory without a good reason. And somehow I doubted that their purpose was fair.

Having no real choice of action I was watching humans from under the half closed eyes, not wanting our captors to know I was awake. My inner voice gave me a wise advise not to attract attention to myself and I was eager to follow it.

Loud groan from one of other two elves startled me. I looked up watching as a warrior opened his pain-filled eyes and struggled to lift his head, groaning once more through the greeted teeth.

"How are you?" I whispered softly, shocked by how my voice sounded raspy and cracked.

Few moments later the throbbing in my throat returned with a new force, making me wince.

"My princess." The warrior looked worriedly at me. I could see a mixture of emotions in his eyes. From one side he was relieved to see me alive, but the other part of him was sad. For he knew that our captivity very possibly could turn out to be worse than death.

"Do not call me by my title." I asked, forcing words out in spite of pain. "Call me by my name, if needed and let us prey that they do not know the names of the whole royal family."

The warrior nodded in understanding and I thought I saw some hint of respect in his gaze. Well, maybe it was just my imagination. My thoughts were interrupted by the heavy footsteps. There were no doubts that they were coming in our direction. Soon after I felt a hand grabbing my hair painfully and jerking my head up.

...TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Note: It took me so long to write it! Hope my inspiration won't be gone and I'll be able to update my other stories.

Chapter 4. A little hint of what awaits us

"So, what do we have here?" Low raspy voice asked, yanking on my hair harder. "A bunch of prissy elves?"

I almost flinched feeling nauseating from the strong stink of alcohol that came from him. Why do humans have this awful habit of drinking that disgusting stuff? Suddenly a sharp pain stabbed through my side making me gasp. That brought sadistic laughter from the man holding me and the other one, who was standing behind the tree and obviously was the one who've kicked me. With the corner of my eye I saw other elves were tensed now, their eyes burning with rage. But they remained silent, knowing far too well that any word or move would probably cause another burst of violence from our captors.

"This bastards killed the third part of our men!" The second human told angrily, kicking me once more. "They deserve to pay!"

I greeted my teeth against the pain. I'd be damned if I let them see my pain! I'm a daughter of a stubborn and noble warrior after all! Finally the man let go of my hair, smacking my head against the tree trunk in the process. He went to stand in front of the other two captives, looking them over with an evaluating gaze.

"You know we can't." He finally said, glaring at his companion. "We'll get a good payment for them. Grayme would like to have new fighters for his little show."

"Yea, I know. I would like to see this ones die myself though." The other replied spitting angrily.

"I know. But why to spoil the goods?" The first one reasoned. "Speaking of which, let's go and see if Henny's keeping himself away from those maidens."

With a dirty chuckles they turned to walk back to the camp, leaving the three of us alone.

"Are you alright, my lady... I mean Ithildae..." The warrior asked when the humans were far enough not to hear us.

"Yes." I said quietly, trying my best not to flinch as the pounding in my head was steadily increasing. My breathing was still labored, coming in a wheezy gasps, and i was sore all over.

Yet, my thoughts were occupied with other things.

"They are to sell us?" I asked in a low voice, looking at the warrior near me. The other one had lost consciousness once more.

For a few long minutes I thought he wasn't going to answer. His eyes were filled with grief and pain. He wished he could spare me this experience. Not because I was his princess, but because I was another living being thrown into the hell on earth. But finally he sighed in defeat.

"We were hearing the rumors about the self proclaimed realm. It was settled by former landlords. They used mercenaries to ensure their power. And they are slavers."

I realized my eyes were going wide. Slavers? So near our kingdom? Why had I never heard about it? Oh, right, I forgot that I'm just a little princess, being isolated from the outside world... I felt the anger and frustration raising inside of me. But this wasn't exactly a good time for complaining over my life. I needed to find a way out of the whole mass I was stuck in.

"So, what are they planing for us?" I asked , my voice surprisingly strong and steady.

I didn't miss the other elf's long studying look, the mixture of surprise and curiosity in it. He was finally seeing my true self, not the bright elegant picture, painted by my family.

"They are using slaves for different reasons. But from what they have mentioned, I can conclude that they are going to make us fight to entertain them. Or probably use us to train their warriors."

I nodded weakly, thinking this over. Suddenly a thought hit me. I raised my head, staring at the other elf in shock.

"They mistook me for a male, didn't they?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

The warrior nodded, smiling grimly.

"No offence, Ithildae, but for a moment i had the same thought."

I felt my cheeks burning slightly. To hear it from the experienced soldier was the best complement for me. I completely forgot that inside the human society it was very unusual for a female to become a warrior. Besides, unlike the other maidens, that were travelling with us, I was wearing plane hunting clothes. But that didn't completely explained the human's lack of observation. Anyway, I felt I must be grateful for this fact for I could only imaging what horrible destiny awaited for the two captured maidens. At least I would have a chance to fight for my life, wouldn't I?

...TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5. The beginning of the hell

The sun was rising above the horizon marking the start of a new day. Yet, at this part of the forest it had hardly mattered whether it was day or night. The trees were standing mute and unmoving, providing no comfort at all and even trying to shield the earth underneath from the tiniest rays of light.

My body was still sore and my head was aching, but it became dulled somehow. Being tied up to a tree in the same position for the whole night was the worst part. I couldn't even feel the chilly morning wind biting at my body anymore. At my side two other elves were slowly waking up. Brennar, the captain of my escort, wasn't wounded severely – a sword cut deeply into his arm and his ribcage was badly bruised, abused by the raging humans, but neither of the wounds were life threatening. The second warrior however was in a much worse state. One of the arrows was still stucking out of his side. That was probably for the best as it was preventing the blood from running freely from the injury. Yet, it was causing the elf a great amount of pain.

I watched them closely, trying to battle all fears and doubts inside of me. I knew that what was waiting ahead was bad. And I didn't know whether I would be able to coup with it or not. Strangely, but before this disastrous journey I dreamed to become a warrior. I wanted to help my brothers fight evil with all my heart. But was I truly brave enough for that?

"Ithildae?" Brennar's whisper was soft. The elder elf didn't want to catch our captors' attention.

"Yes?" I slowly turned to him, hoping that my misery wasn't shown at my face.

"Whatever happens to us, please, stay strong, my lady." He said with deep sadness in his eyes.

"I honestly don't know if I'm strong enough." I whispered almost inaudibly, staring down. My hair was falling over, covering my face and hopefully covering the tears in my eyes.

"You ARE strong. Just don't give up."

He obviously wanted to say more, but was cut off by the sound of approaching feet. I haven't realized that the humans were starting to wake up, readying themselves to break the camp.

"I hope you slept well." A man came to stand in front of us, his voice obviously mocking. I looked up, willing the tears away. I recognized the human as a leader of this group. Gram was his name.

The man's smile faded as he realized that no one was going to reply him. He looked at the second man, who came to stop near us as well. This one was caring a bucket of water and some cloths.

Gram stopped him and went to stand behind the tree I was tied to, taking his sword out. I felt the cold bite of the steel at the soft skin of my already bruised neck.

"Make a move and this boy will die." The man said threateningly to my companions.

None of the other two elves said a word, but their eyes were burning with desire to strangle this human or do something equally slow and painful.

The second man moved to untie Brennar and started to roughly clean his wound. I saw the lines of pain on the elder elf's face. He greeted his teeth at the non-too-gentle treatment, but kept silent through the whole procedure. Finally, the human secured the bandage over Brennar's wound and tied him back. Since I couldn't actually moved, the sword at my neck didn't bother me greatly, I knew this men wanted us alive and would do no permanent harm to any of us. Or at least I hoped so.

The human moved to the second elven warrior. Galfanor was only half-conscious thanked to the pain from the arrow in his side. Hard as he tried, the elf couldn't suppress moans of pain that escaped his lips while the ungentle human took the arrow away, cleaned and stitched the wound. By the time the bandaged was applied, Galfanor had already passed out from the all-consuming pain.

Gram took the sword away from me and walked toward his silent helper.

"Durs, will this one live?" He asked, nodding toward Galfanor's prone body.

"Yes, sir. Elves are strong. Now, that the wound was treated he'll be mending."

"Good. He rides with you. Until he's out of danger, you are responsible for him. We lost too many warriors to loose our prize as well." He watched the younger man going away and turned toward us. "The two of you are keeping pace with us on foot."

With that he was gone. I watched as human's broke their camp, packing their things on horses' backs, in some kind of daze. My heart was tightening at fear. The feeling of dread increased as Dars came nearby, untying still unconscious Galfanor and placing him onto one of the horses before jumping into saddle as well. Then, Brennar and I were also untied from the tree and jerked to our feet. It was strangely hard to move at all. I couldn't remember ever feeling my body this numb and unresponsive!

"Move on!" The angry human behind me shouted as I was pushed toward the horse. The beast looked at me sadly with her big brown eyes. But she wasn't free herself and therefore couldn't help me. My hands were tied in front of me with a long rope linking me to a horse's saddle. The same was done to Brennar. I caught the glimpse of the other elf's eyes before the humans started to move and I was forced to run behind the horse.

Tears were stinging my eyes as I was forced to march further from my home. I could practically see my father's anxious face when he'll get the letter from Lorien, asking why hadn't I came. My brothers would search entire forest for me. But would they be able to save us?

Suddenly Brennar's voice entered my mind, breaking the grip of panic. 'Please, stay strong, my Lady…" I willed the tears away, letting anger to take it's place. I won't give up! Whatever happens, I won't give up.

Valars, help us!

…TBC


End file.
